NIRF India Rankings 2025: IIT Madras tops overall for seventh straight year; SDG category added
Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan released the India Rankings 2025 under NIRF on 4 September 2025, with IIT Madras first overall for the seventh consecutive year and IISc Bengaluru topping universities.
Summary
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan released the India Rankings 2025 under the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) on 4 September 2025. IIT Madras retained first place in the Overall category for the seventh consecutive year (2019–2025) and in Engineering for the tenth consecutive year (2016–2025). IISc Bengaluru topped the Universities category for the tenth consecutive year and Research Institutions for the fifth consecutive year. IIM Ahmedabad led in Management and AIIMS Delhi retained the top spot in Medical. A new Sustainable Development Goals category was added in 2025. NIRF was launched by the Ministry of Education in September 2015, and the first India Rankings were released in 2016 in one category and three subject domains.
Key facts
- Released
- 4 Sep 2025 by Dharmendra Pradhan
- Overall
- IIT Madras – 1st for 7th straight year (2019–2025)
- Engineering
- IIT Madras – 10th straight year
- Universities / Research
- IISc Bengaluru – 10th / 5th straight year
- Management / Medical
- IIM Ahmedabad / AIIMS Delhi
- New in 2025
- Sustainable Development Goals category
- NIRF history
- Launched Sep 2015; first rankings 2016
Practice MCQs 4 questions
Which institution topped the Overall category of the NIRF India Rankings 2025?
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Correct answer: D — IIT Madras
IIT Madras retained first position in the Overall category for the seventh consecutive year (2019–2025).
Which institution topped the Universities category in NIRF India Rankings 2025 for the tenth consecutive year?
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Correct answer: A — IISc Bengaluru
IISc Bengaluru topped the Universities category for the tenth consecutive year (2016–2025).
Which new category was introduced in the NIRF India Rankings in 2025?
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Correct answer: D — Sustainable Development Goals
The Sustainable Development Goals category was added in 2025; Open and Skill Universities were added in 2024 and Innovation in 2023.
Consider the following statements about the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF): 1. NIRF was launched by the Ministry of Education in September 2015. 2. In the 2025 rankings, IIT Madras was first in Engineering for the tenth consecutive year. Which of the above is/are correct?
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Correct answer: C — Both 1 and 2
NIRF was launched in September 2015, the first rankings came out in 2016, and IIT Madras has topped Engineering every year from 2016 to 2025. Both statements are correct.